Someone got ESP-NOW working on a 2009 Sony Walkman, and it even uses the original Wi-Fi chip

Credit: Infinite-Zombie5875 Published Nov 2, 2026, 3:20 AM EST Simon is a Computer Science BSc graduate who has been writing about technology since 2014, and using Windows machines since 3.1. After working for an indie game studio and acting as the family's go-to technician for all computer issues, he found his passion for writing and decided to use his skill set to write about all things tech. Since beginning his writing career, he has written for many different publications such as WorldStart, Listverse, and MakeTechEasier. However, after finding his home at MakeUseOf in February 2019, he would eventually move on to its sister site, XDA, to bring the latest and greatest in Windows, Linux, and DIY electronics. Sign in to your XDA account Summary This 2009 Sony Walkman now runs ESP-NOW using its original WiFi chip, a non-invasive mod. It talks to ESP32 devices; the demo shows a shared aquarium using IMU data and synced local rendering. Project and code are on GitHub, a great chance to revive old Walkmans and experiment. It has been a good week for bringing new life into older tech. We saw someone turn an Amazon Echo Dot 3 into a Home Assistant satellite with Claude's help, and someone else turned a rotary phone into an AI assistant. Now, someone has managed to implement ESP-NOW on a 2009 Sony Walkman, and they managed it while keeping the original Wi-Fi chip. This Sony Walkman is now part of the ESP-NOW family It can talk to other ESP32 devices just fine Over on the ESP32 subreddit, Infinite-Zombie5875 showed off what they've been working on. They took a 2009 Sony NW-X1060 Walkman and tinkered with it to add ESP-NOW support. Best of all, their work didn't require stripping out the original Marvell Wi-Fi chip within the Walkman, which makes it very non-invasive. Here's how they describe the project: "After reverse engineering the radio firmware’s RX/TX paths, I added hooks for ESP-NOW action frames and a native C API on the Walkman side. It communicates directly with ESP32 devices. The demo is a shared aquarium across the Walkman and an ESP-Mosaico. The Mosaico supplies IMU data, and both devices render locally, with state synchronized over ESP-NOW." Sure enough, you can see the Walkman in the video above, communicating with another device using ESP-NOW to create a shared aquarium scene. I'm not 100% sure what you'd do with a Walkman that can talk to ESP32 devices, but I'd love to see what's possible. And if you have a Walkman collecting dust, you can check out the project's GitHub page and perhaps try doing the same on your own.